The souls on the fifth terrace purify themselves of their vice (avarice or its
sinful opposite, prodigality) by lying face-down on the hard rock floor.
Weeping and praying, they themselves call out the examples of greed and its
opposing virtue (generosity). Pope Adrian V, who lived only a little more
than a month after his election to the papacy in 1276 (19.103-5), explains
how this prostrate position is fitting punishment for their neglect of
spiritual matters and excessive attachment to worldly goods. This pope, the
first saved pope encountered by the journeying Dante, tells his visitor not
to kneel because they are now equals before God (19.133-5).

Dante's combines two Hugh's--Hugh Capet the Great (d. 956) and his son, Hugh
(ruled 987-96)--into this composite "Hugh Capet," root of the medieval French
dynasty of Capetian rulers. Of humble origins himself, according to Dante's
version, Hugh Capet laments the corruption of his ruling descendents as they
acquired power and privilege over the centuries. He prophesies events of
particular interest to Dante: the coup d'état in Florence
plotted by Pope
Boniface VIII and staged by the black guelphs with the help of the French prince, Charles of
Valois; and the abduction and humiliation of Boniface at the hands of forces
controlled by King Philip IV (Philip the Fair) of France (20.85-90). Like
Pope Adrian V, Hugh Capet lies prostrate on the floor of the fifth terrace
to expiate the sin of avarice.

Statius, a Roman poet from the first century (45-96 C.E.), is the author of
two epic Latin poems, the Thebaid (treating the fratricidal war for
the city of Thebes) and the Achilleid (about the Greek hero Achilles),
which was left incomplete upon the poet's death. Dante and Virgil meet
Statius soon after he has completed his time on the fifth terrace, an
achievement that triggers the trembling of the mountain and the celebratory
shouting of the spirits (20.124-41; 21.58-72). Statius spent over five
hundred years on the fifth terrace (not for avarice but for its symmetrical
vice, prodigality), after having raced around the fourth terrace (sloth)
for over four hundred years (22.92-3). The reverence Statius shows for
Virgil reflects how much he owes to his Roman precursor: Statius drew
poetic inspiration from Virgil's Aeneid (calling it a "divine flame"
in 21.95), and he credits Virgil's fourth eclogue with his turn to
Christianity (22.64-73); Statius also credits a line from the Aeneid
with teaching him to curb his free spending ways, thus enabling him to
avoid the eternal punishment of rolling boulders with the
avaricious and prodigal sinners in Hell
(22.37-45). Freed of his purgatorial trials, Statius will accompany Dante
and Virgil the rest of the way up the mountain.

The penitents on the fifth terrace, Hugh Capet explains, recite examples
of avarice during the night and examples of the contrary virtue (poverty,
contentment with little) during the day (20.97-102). Because Dante and
Virgil arrive on the terrace in the morning, they first hear the exemplary
cases of poverty, beginning as always with a biblical scene from the life
of Mary (20.19-24). Her poverty is evident, the spirits proclaim,
from the extremely modest circumstances in which she gave birth to Jesus,
as described in Luke 2:7: "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and
wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there
was no room for them in the inn." "Good Fabricius," a classical
figure, is the second virtuous example (20.25-7). Gaius Fabricius Luscinus
was a prominent Roman leader--he served the Republic twice as consul (282
and 278 B.C.E.) and once as censor (275)--legendary for his integrity and
contempt for material wealth. So strong was Fabricius' loyalty to the
state that he could not be bought off with lavish gifts, preferring
instead "to remain in poverty as an ordinary citizen" (Augustine,
City of God 5.18). Dante elsewhere presents Fabricius as a model of
Roman civic virtue based on this impressive austerity (Convivio
4.5.13; Monarchia 2.5.11), which Virgil succinctly praises in the
Aeneid: "Fabricius, strong with so little" (6.843-4).
Nicholas, whose generosity enabled the young women to maintain honor
(20.31-3), is the third individual praised on the terrace of avarice. St.
Nicholas, venerated by both the Greek and Roman Churches, was the
fourth-century bishop of Myra (in Asia Minor) whose remains were brought to
Bari, Italy in the eleventh century (he is also known as Nicholas of Bari).
The episode recited by the penitents was well known from The Golden
Legend or Lives of the Saints, compiled by Jacobus de Voragine in the
thirteenth century. Born to a wealthy family, Nicholas resolved to
distribute his riches "not to the praising of the world but to the honor
and glory of God." He acted on this promise upon learning that a neighbor,
an impoverished nobleman, intended to keep the family afloat by
prostituting his three daughters. Nicholas, horrified by this proposition,
stealthily threw a bundle of gold into the man's house during the night.
Thanking God, the neighbor used the gold to marry his oldest daughter.
Nicholas repeated the procedure two more times, thus providing a dowry for
all three daughters. The patron saint of sailors, virgins, merchants, and
thieves (among others), Nicholas is most widely recognized as Santa Claus,
patron saint of children.

During the night, the penitents recite, in rapid succession, seven infamous
cases of avarice (20.103-17). Pygmalion, a traitor, thief, and
parricide (20.103-5), was King of Tyre and brother of
Dido. "Blinded by his love of gold"
(Aen. 1.349), he brutally murdered Dido's wealthy husband Sychaeus
(who was Pygmalion's uncle) and tried to keep the crime from his sister.
Dido learned of the murder from Sychaeus' spirit, who also revealed the
location of gold and silver to his sister and warned her to flee their
homeland at once. Dido and her companions escaped with the treasure of
rapacious Pygmalion, and they eventually founded a new city, Carthage
(Aen. 1.335-68). Midas, a Phrygian king, was granted a wish
by Bacchus for having returned the satyr Silenus to the god; he asked that
whatever he touched be turned to gold. This was indeed an unwise choice,
for now Midas could neither eat nor drink: even the solids and liquids that
passed his lips turn to metal. Bacchus answered Midas' plea for forgiveness
and cancelled the unwelcome gift (Ovid, Met. 11.85-145).

The next three examples are biblical. Achan was stoned to death, his
family and possessions consumed by fire, for having disobeyed Joshua's
command that the treasures of the conquered city of Jericho be consecrated
to God (Jos. 6:18-19). Because Achan took precious items from the spoils
for himself, the Israelites were defeated and they suffered heavy losses in
a subsequent battle; God's wrath was averted with the punishment of Achan's
crime (Jos. 7:1-26). The avarice of two early Christian followers,
Sapphira and her husband Ananias, was also punished by death.
While other members of the community sold their property and gave all
proceeds to the apostles for distribution according to need, Ananias (with
the complicity of Sapphira) kept part of the sale for himself. Confronted
by Peter for the fraud, first Ananias and then Sapphira immediately dropped
dead (Acts 4:32-7; 5:1-10). King Seleucus of Asia sent Heliodorus to
the temple in Jerusalem to bring back money, which the king, acting on
false information, believed was his. The temple members, because the funds
actually belonged to them and were used for charity, were distraught until
their prayers were answered: as Heliodorus prepared to take away the money,
there appeared a knight in golden armor whose horse delivered the kicks
now praised by the penitents in Purgatory (20.113; 2 Mach. 3:25).

Two classical figures round out the exemplary cases of avarice.
Polymnestor lives in infamy all around the mountain (20.114-15). The
king of Thrace, he was entrusted with the safety of Polydorus, youngest
son of Priam and Hecuba. Driven by his insatiable greed, Polymnestor
instead killed Polydorus to take
for himself the considerable wealth the boy brought for safe keeping from
the besieged city of Troy (Aen. 3.19-68; Met. 13.429-38).
Hecuba avenges this crime: pretending to believe that Polydorus is still
alive, she tells Polymnestor that she has a secret store of gold for him
to give her son; when the murderer, greedier than ever, asks for the gold
and promises to fulfill Hecuba's request, she grabs him and, assisted by
other Trojan women, gouges out his eyes and--through the empty sockets--his
brain as well (Met. 13.527-64). Marcus Licinius Crassus, part
of the triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey (60 B.C.E.) and twice consul
with Pompey (70, 55 B.C.E.), also suffers a gruesome death due to his
avarice. Nicknamed Dives ("the wealthy one": Cicero, On Duties
2.57), Crassus comes to know the taste of gold, as the avaricious spirits
mockingly put it (20.117), when greed leads to his death--and the massacre
of eleven Roman legions--at the hands of the Parthians. Crassus' head and
right hand are brought before the Parthian king, who has melted gold
poured into the open mouth so that "as the living man burned with lust for
gold, now even his dead body feels the heat of gold" (Florus,
Epitoma 1.46).

1. Among the avaricious souls (fifth terrace), Dante has his first
encounter with a saved pope, Adrian V (19.79-145). Compare the
presentation of this pope with that of Pope Nicholas III among the
simonists in Hell (Inferno 19).

2. Consider the important role of Virgil's writing in the life of
Statius, a later Latin poet (21.94-102; 22.64-73). What effect do
these passages have on your perception of Virgil?